The end of 2025 is fast approaching, and that means it is time for all kinds of year-end wrap-up lists. I happen to love lists (this is true for many librarians), so I decided to add one more to the fray.
I took a look at our print fiction collection and found the books with the highest circulation that were published this year. The list is diverse and includes a few books that I will be adding to my TBR (to be read) pile. The results just confirm what we already know at the library: our patrons have excellent taste. I’ll start with the number 10 in popularity and count down to the most circulated title.
10. “My Friends” by Fredrik Backman
The bestselling author of “Anxious People” returns with a funny and deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.
9. “Dream State” by Eric Puchner
Spanning fifty years and set against the backdrop of a rapidly warming Montana, “Dream State” explores what it means to live with the mistakes of the past – both our own and the ones we’ve inherited.
8. “The Emperor of Gladness” by Ocean Vuong
In the struggling town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from despair by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, forging an unexpected bond that reshapes their lives and reveals dynamics of love, memory, and resilience on the margins of society.
7. “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
From the author of “Daisy Jones & The Six” comes an epic novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we may go to live and love beyond our limits.
6. “Nightshade” by Michael Connelly
Connelly introduces a new detective in this crime thriller: Los Angeles County Detective Stilwell, who has been exiled to a low-key post policing rustic Catalina Island after department politics drove him off the mainland. But soon a body found in the harbor and poachers on a protected reserve upset the serenity on the island.
5. “Dream Count” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A widely-praised and exquisite novel by the bestselling and award-winning author of “Americanah” and “Half of a Yellow Sun.” In Adichie’s latest book, we come to know four interesting, challenging, and complicated women as they navigate their rich and complex lives.
4. “Show Don’t Tell” by Curtis Sittenfeld
In her second story collection, Sittenfeld shows why she’s as beloved for her short fiction as she is for her novels. In these stories, she conjures up characters so real that they seem like old friends, laying bare the moments when their long-held beliefs are overturned.
3. “Onyx Storm” by Rebecca Yarros
The third book in the Empyrean series, this novel continues Violet Sorrengail’s adventures beyond the Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands.
2. “Three Days in June” by Anne Tyler
As Gail navigates the chaos of her daughter Debbie’s wedding preparations, including a job loss, exclusion from family events, and the unexpected arrival of her ex-husband Max, she faces a crisis that threatens the wedding and forces both parents to confront unresolved issues from their past.
- “Great Big Beautiful Life” by Emily Henry
Two authors meet on an island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman who has been hiding there for years. The woman, a former tabloid princess and daughter of one of the most scandalous families of the 20th century, invites them to stay with her and she will choose the person who will tell her story. The latest romantic comedy by the author of “Beach Read” claims the number one spot for all of our 2025 novels.
I hope you have found your next read from this list, and I hope to see you at the library!
Photo of the Discovery Center at the library by the author.